Brother Godwin

Brother Godwin (died 892) was a West Saxon Catholic priest at the court of King Alfred the Great during the late 9th century. In 892, Aethelwold Aetheling offered Godwin the services of a prostitute if he would convince Bishop Erkenwald to advise King Alfred that ealdorman Uhtred of Bebbanburg was an untrustworthy pagan. At a meeting of the Witenagemot after the Battle of Farnham, where King Alfred mentioned the exhuming of Uhtred's deceased wife Gisela Harthacnutsdottir, Godwin defended Uhtred's actions, but then insulted Gisela by saying that a pagan whore would only poison the Christian graveyard, and he continued by saying that her children were bastards, as she was lawfully married to Aelfric of Bebbanburg (the same claim which had led Uhtred to kill abbot Eadred Lulisc fourteen years earlier). Although even Alfred told Godwin to stop, Godwin continued to insult Gisela until Uhtred struck him across the face. The disabled Godwin fell to the ground with a broken neck, and he died instantly; the accidental killing of a monk by Uhtred in front of the King led to Uhtred's outlawry and flight to Northumbria.